


wreck my plans

by angellwings



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Complicated Relationships, F/M, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Hope, Mutual Pining, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:33:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28082469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angellwings/pseuds/angellwings
Summary: A date to watch a football game at a sports bar would not have been in her top 5 for a first date but she’s not opposed to trying something different. Obviously, her usual taste in men hasn’t been working for her so maybe she should branch out a little. Besides, she likes football!She’s meeting Laurenti at the bar-turned-restaurant and she spots his dark head of hair as soon as she steps through the door. His dark hair and bright green eyes pulled her in on the scene earlier today. They’re very kind and yet completely different from the last pair of kind eyes she let herself get lost in.
Relationships: Sylvie Brett/Matthew Casey
Comments: 47
Kudos: 161





	wreck my plans

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:** So, I tried to tell myself not to write until I finished my goodreads goal and wrote my article on Taylor Swift’s new album, but uh....yeah I couldn’t do that lol. So here’s a short and sweet one shot set sometime after 9x03 in my head. Also, Sylvie's date is character I made up lol. He's not someone from the show just to be clear. He's a Lieutenant at another house so they all know him from work. Okay thanks baiiiiii.
> 
> Happy reading!
> 
> xoxo

_******_

_“You know that my train could take you home,_

_Anywhere else is hollow._

_I'm begging for you to take my hand,_

_Wreck my plans, that's my man.”_

_-“willow” by Taylor Swift_

_******_

A date to watch a football game at a sports bar would not have been in her top 5 for a first date but she’s not opposed to trying something different. Obviously, her usual taste in men hasn’t been working for her so maybe she should branch out a little. Besides, she likes football! 

She’s meeting Laurenti at the bar-turned-restaurant and she spots his dark head of hair as soon as she steps through the door. His dark hair and bright green eyes pulled her in on the scene earlier today. They’re very kind and yet completely different from the last pair of kind eyes she let herself get lost in.

Blue eyes flash through her mind and guilt overwhelms her. She has nothing to feel guilty about. Matt will be fine. He doesn’t need her. He may want her for the time being, but he’ll get over it. She’s a flash in the pan for him and she won’t ruin their friendship for that. It’s already been hurtful enough after one brief make out session, ending a relationship with him would shatter her. She _has_ to move on. And maybe Laurenti isn’t the one but he’s a _start_. 

She smiles prettily at him as she crosses the bar room to the table he saved, surprised to find two other people sitting with him. Her surprise turns to dread when she finally comes to a stop next him.

This can’t be happening.

Oh, god.

“Brett!” Laurenti exclaims, standing to greet her and pull out her chair. “Right on time. I hope you don’t mind. Casey and Severide couldn’t find open seats. I told the hostess they were with our party so they weren’t kicked out.”

Her stomach plummets to her feet. Nope, this is real. It’s not a nightmare. It’s happening.

Her first date in forever and the man she’s hopelessly tragically in love with has a front row seat. _Wonderful_.

Of course Laurenti would invite them to share their table. He’s a genuinely nice guy. Or at least that’s what everyone says. 

She sits and forces a smile, avoiding Casey’s gray-blue eyes completely. “Definitely don’t mind. Hey, guys.”

Severide waves with a look that’s half pained and half amused. “Brett. You’re looking... _spirited_.”

She looks down at her sweater as she’s removing her coat, frowning anxiously at her Chicago Bears themed ugly Christmas sweater. “Too much?”

“No,” Matt answers with a wan smile and eyes that look much too fond for her comfort. “It’s perfect.”

“More perfect than you know, actually,” Laurenti says with a smirk, unbuttoning his own coat. Slowly he reveals a sweater that’s a near twin to hers. He winks and chuckles. “People are gonna think we planned this.”

She laughs genuinely, despite the nerves of having Matt so close, and takes a moment to drink in her date. He really is adorable. Tall and broad shouldered with dark hair that falls perfectly across his forehead and green eyes that sparkle with openness and good humor. During any other phase of her life she would have fallen hard and fast for him, but at the moment her heart is too tangled up in Matt Casey to fall for _anyone_.

Dammit, this is a mistake.

Laurenti is too nice. He doesn’t deserve this. She’s doing to him what Antonio did to her and jumping in to someone else before she’s ready to let go of Matt.

If she’s ever ready to let go of Matt.

Why did she listen to Stella? She knew this would be a bad idea the minute this guy showed interest in her but Stella assured her it would be good for her.

And now she’s stuck. Beside Laurenti and across from Matt. _Perfect_.

“Let me get you a drink,” Laurenti says, standing as he looks at her expectantly. “What are you having?”

There’s no drink menus and she’s never been here before. She has no idea what they have. She should go with something safe. She likes almost any kind of wine. Sure, she has her favorites (rosé all day is not just a cute slogan, it’s a way of life) but she doesn’t hate white or red. Wine can’t fail.

“Um, wine. Any kind, I don’t care,” she says with a polite smile.

He nods, excitedly. “On it.”

“I need another beer. I’ll go with you,” Matt says. “You need another, Severide?”

He nods. “Yeah, I could go for another.”

Sylvie averts her gaze and bites her bottom lip until Matt and Laurenti are gone. She sighs in relief when they’re out of her line of sight and hidden behind a line of people at the bar.

“What are you guys doing here?” Sylvie asks Kelly with a groan. She sounds pathetic and she knows it.

“What are we doing here? What are _you_ doing here? You seriously agreed to a watch party as a first date?” Severide asks with a teasing smirk. 

Her hand slaps his shoulder with a muffled whack and he lets out a muted chuckle in response.

“Stop it! He’s nice!” Sylvie admonishes. “I thought I’d go with the flow on this one. I mean, I’ve been doing the same sort of things on first dates for years and clearly that hasn’t been working for me.”

“I don’t think that has anything to do with the actual date,” he replies with a critical quirked brow. “Probably more to do with the guys themselves.”

“What’s wrong with the guys I date? I mean, aside from Harrison,” she asks Severide with narrowed eyes.

“Nothing’s _wrong_ with them — well, most of them — you just don’t seem to see them or yourself very clearly so you date these guys who are all wrong for you or you play it safe. There’s never any inbetween,” Kelly says with a feigned careless shrug. “Like Laurenti. He’s nice enough, but is he really who you want, Brett?”

She huffs at the surprising accuracy of his point and crosses her arms over her chest defensively. “No, he’s not. But I...I can’t have who I want so I have to make due.”

“Who says you can’t have who you want? Have you asked him lately?”

“Severide, I’m on a date. Do we really have to do this now?”

He holds his hands up in surrender with an easy grin. “I’m not doing anything. I’m just having a conversation. Look, I like Laurenti. He’s a solid guy. But I’m always gonna be Team Casey. I wanna see him happy and you make him happy. And if you tell him I said any of this to you, you’re dead. Copy?”

Her expression softens and she gives Kelly a soft understanding smile. “Copy.”

There’s a pause before she adds one more thing. Something she thinks is important for Severide to understand.

“I want him to be happy too, you know?” Sylvie tells him, meeting his stare. Praying her eyes don’t betray the water pooling in them, she continues. “But he needs to figure out how to be happy for himself — even if his happiness has nothing to do with me.”

“I get that,” Severide says. “But it’s been a couple of weeks, have you talked to him about it since?”

“I’m not going to force him to talk to me. He either wants to or he doesn’t—“

“Because you’ve made yourself oh so available for a chat,” he says, elbowing her playfully. “What with how you avoid looking at him every chance you get.”

“I--that’s a fair statement I guess but I just...I miss him and looking at him makes it worse,” she admits with a thick swallow.

“Yeah,” Severide says with a thoughtful faroff gaze and a sympathetic expression. “I remember that feeling. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” she replies quietly. She sighs and slumps in her chair. “This date was a terrible idea. What am I doing? Dating someone while I’m hung up on Matt is incredibly stupid.”

“You’re doing the best you can to protect yourself,” Severide offers, with a kind half smile. “You’ve been through a lot and you deserve to be happy too, Brett. There’s no shame in trying to figure out how to make that happen.”

“Alright, we’re back,” Laurenti announces as he and Matt approach the table. “For the lady,” he says as he sets a glass of rosé down in front of her. 

Her eyes widen and she sits up straighter to look her date in the eyes with a surprised expression. “This is my favorite,” she tells him. “How did you know?”

He waves her off and then points to Matt on the other side of the table. “Casey, helped me out. He walked me through Sylvie Brett’s wine rankings.”

Casey blushes a furious red and sinks down into his chair as she had just a few moments ago. He lifts his beer to his lips while shaking his head, gulping a hard sip before he speaks. 

“I mean, it wasn’t as intense as that,” he says. “Besides, you order that all the time at Molly’s. It’s hard not to notice.”

“Come on, man, don’t be modest,” Laurenti says with a good natured eye roll. “He said it goes rosé, white, and then red.” He turns to face her with a smirk. “True or false?”

Severide laughs softly and gives both Brett and Casey knowing expressions.

“True,” Sylvie replies, meeting Matt’s eyes for the second time that night.

Matt inhales and releases a big breath that causes his shoulders to rise and fall, giving her one of those soft glances that she’s learning he saves just for her. This time, he looks away first -- suddenly finding their menu extremely interesting.

“We should probably order before kick off,” Matt says, eyes wandering the menu without actually reading anything.

They order their food, complete with desserts, before kickoff and then Sylvie settles in to watch the game. There are a lot of sports she knows nothing about. Football isn’t one of them. She’s a small town girl and in a small town football is a way of life -- especially a small farming town like Fowlerton. Plus, she’s cheered at football games since she was old enough to hold a pair of pom-poms. 

She’s not a fanatic or anything, but she knows football. Casey and Severide have tailgated with her at Soldier Field enough to know that -- Laurenti hasn’t. 

After kickoff he leans toward her. “If you have any questions about what’s going on just let me know.”

Severide snorts and covers it with clearing his throat and Matt suppresses a grin by taking a bite of his steak.

He doesn’t mean it to sound as condescending as it does. Sylvie knows that. But that doesn’t stop her from rolling her eyes as soon as he looks away from her. 

“Yeah, I’ll be sure to do that,” she answers dryly.

Halfway through the second quarter (including unnecessary play by plays form Laurenti), dessert arrives and Sylvie immediately knows they’ve gotten Matt’s order wrong. They’ve brought him a slice of the chocolate hazelnut tart. She knows he’s not a fan from the way he frowns at her hazelnut creamer at the firehouse every third day of the week. She holds her slice of German chocolate cake out to him the minute their waitress is gone.

“Trade?” She asks, with a friendly smile.

Maybe if their waitress focused on writing down orders instead of making eyes at Matt she’d have gotten his request right. Not that Sylvie cares if some random waitress hits on Matt. She definitely doesn’t. Not a bit. (Okay, maybe a little.)

He gives her that soft smirk again as he nods and hands her his dessert plate. “Thanks.”

“Sure,” she replies with a shrug.

When dinner is finished and half time hits, Sylvie excuses herself to the restroom. Mostly for a break from...well, _everything_ but mostly guilt. Guilt that Matt has to watch her on a date, guilt that she’s spending her date with Laurenti wishing it was a date with Matt, guilt that she even agreed to the date in the first place.

She takes a minute to breathe and reminds herself of Severide’s words from earlier. She’s simply trying to be happy and there’s nothing wrong with that. She needs to cut herself some slack. She washes her hands and then emerges from the restroom…

And comes face to face with Matt.

He’s leaning against the wall opposite the bathroom door, clearly waiting.

“Hi,” he says with a thick swallow.

“Hi,” she parrots while crossing the small hallway to meet him.

“I’m sorry about crashing your date,” Matt begins, nervous almost to the point of being frantic. “We honestly didn’t know you’d be here and Laurenti didn’t say who he was meeting until we’d already agreed to sit--”

“It’s okay, Matt,” Sylvie interrupts. “I didn’t think you did it on purpose.”

“You didn’t?” He asks, looking surprised and relieved.

“No,” she tells him with a furrowed brow. “Why would I think that? I know you better than that.”

“I don’t know really,” Matt admits, speaking softly. “I guess I’m just not used to being given the benefit of the doubt with this kind of thing.”

“Have you ever been in a situation like this with me?” She asks him with a pointed lift of her brows.

He meets her eyes, smiling warmly as he shakes his head. “No, I haven’t.”

“Guess that explains _that_ then, doesn’t it? The benefit of the doubt is kinda my thing,” she tells him. She’s been shutting down in front of him lately. Severide was right about that. Right now, tonight, she’s refusing to shut down. What he does with that opportunity is up to him.

“I guess it is, isn’t it?” Matt asks her, an affectionate grin stretching across his lips. His expression sobers and he gulps anxiously. “I--Listen, I know you’re on a date and this isn’t the time or the place but...can we find some time to talk, please? Some time away from the firehouse hopefully? I have some things I need to say to you -- some things I’ve been thinking about since our last talk.”

Some things? What things?

Despite her fear of heartbreak, she’s curious.

And, bottom line, she trusts Matt. He won’t intentionally hurt her. What harm could it do to hear him out?

She breathes deeply, fortifying herself as she answers him. “I’d like that. Do you have time tomorrow?”

“I’ll make the time,” he insists. “Just tell me what works best for you.”

“We could meet somewhere for lunch,” she suggests.

He nods. “Whatever you want. Just text me a time and a place. I’ll be there.”

“Okay,” she agrees. “I’ll pick a place and a time.”

“Thank you,” he replies. A slow teasing smile tugs at the corners of his mouth. “And I promise I won’t try to explain the difference between a touchdown and a field goal. Not once.”

She presses her lips together to try and suppress a laugh but fails miserably and it escapes in a short sudden blast. “I’d appreciate that. Speaking of, I guess we should get back.”

“Actually, um, Severide and I are gonna head out. Let you get back to your date in peace--”

“Matt, you really don’t have to--”

“Yes, I do,” he disagrees. “You deserve to try and figure out what you want. This isn’t just about me, Sylvie. Whatever this is between us now is about both of us. I had some things to figure out and you do too. You should take all the time you need for that. If that means going on a date with a perfectly nice guy then...I’ve gotta suck it up and deal. So, I’m going to go and let you finish your date and tell you to have a good time. Because you deserve good things, Sylvie Brett.”

The tension in her shoulders eases, the guilt lifts, and her affection for Matt Casey grows exponentially larger. She didn’t know that was even possible.

She nods. “Okay. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Tomorrow for sure,” he insists. “Goodnight, Sylvie.”

“Goodnight, Matt.”

She watches him walk away and meet Severide at the door. Kelly waves to her with a knowing grin and a wink. Sylvie chuckles at him and shakes her head as she waves.

It’s not until the door closes behind them that Matt’s words actually hit her.

_“I had some things to figure out…”_

Had? As in...past tense?

Her cheeks warm as she contemplates the possibilities of those words and an irrepressible smile blooms on her face. Maybe she won’t have to miss Matt Casey for too much longer. _Maybe_ he does need her. Hoping for him feels dangerous, but she’s never been one to let a little danger stop her. Why start now?


End file.
